Charlie and Lauren

How We Met

Charlie is from Glen Ellyn, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago), and I am from the small town of Milan, Michigan. We met in Indianapolis at Butler University when Charlie was a senior and I was a sophomore. We had a few mutual friends but I had never met Charlie until he had hosted a social gathering at his house that I attended with my friends. We continued spending time together after that day, and realized we were dating in January of 2014.

Charlie graduated that May, and we went through two years of long-distance. During that time, I spent 6 months in Minnesota for an internship, immediately followed by Charlie spending 5 months in Alabama for work. During this time we got to explore so many new places together – we like to think we made the absolute most of our long-distance relationship.

When I graduated in 2016, I took a job in Chicago and moved (finally) to the same state as Charlie. We’ve spent the last year and a half enjoying both the city and each other – we were finally just a train ride away!

how he asked

We decided to take a trip to Charleston in September and Charlie, in order to keep me surprised at all times, planned all of our activities. On our first day in Charleston we took a long bike ride touring Charleston and Mount Pleasant and eventually stopped by Pitt Street Bridge. It was beautiful – we saw a few dolphins and were shocked at how peaceful and isolated the location was. Little did I know, Charlie had wanted to check out the location for himself and was quickly reassured that it would be the perfect location to ask me to marry him the following evening. On Friday, September 22 we returned to the Pitt Street Bridge and Charlie, overwhelmed with elation, got down on own knee and asked me to marry him. We were both moved to tears. Without hesitation, I said yes!

We are so grateful that Valerie and Ed were there to perfectly capture every moment and emotion. The moment was absolutely perfect, especially thanks to some small details. I was wearing a dress from White House Black Market and since he told me we were going to a fancy dinner, I wore my favorite Stuart Weitzman wedges.

Charlie actually picked out the dress and surprised me with it last year as a graduation gift (impressive right?!), and I was so excited! One of Charlie’s favorite parts of looking back through our pictures is the dress I’m wearing and the story behind it. Charlie loves a reason to dress up, so he was wearing his favorite suit jacket from Banana Republic… if I had to guess that’s where the rest of his outfit is from as well.

Last but not least, my new favorite accessory! My engagement ring is from Lauren B Jewelry. Charlie and I had taken a trip to NYC a few months prior and stopped into the Lauren B store to look at rings – their customer service was incredible and Charlie enjoyed working with Ruth throughout the process of purchasing the ring. And of course, I LOVE IT.

When I’m not staring at my ring, I’m scheduling some tours of venues for our wedding! We haven’t decided on one so we don’t have a set date or location, but it will most likely be in September of 2018 near New Buffalo, Michigan. We cannot wait!”